Without the local library in my neighborhood, I don’t think I would have grown up to be a writer or a teacher.

Teachers must be celebrated for moving civilization from ignorance to enlightenment, from apathy to responsibility.

What would you do if you could fly?" Mrs. V asks as she glances from the bird to me. "Is that on the quiz?" I ask, grinning as I type. "I think we've studied just about everything else." Mrs. V chuckles. "I'd be scared to let go," I type. "Afraid you'd fall?" she asks. "No. Afraid it would feel so good, I'd just fly away.

Words. I'm surrounding by thousands of words. Maybe millions...Deep within me, words pile up in huge drifts. Mountains of phrases and sentences and connected ideas. Clever expressions. Jokes. Love songs...I have never spoken one single word. I am almost eleven years old.

Go ahead and cry, Andy. Don't be afraid of those tears. Sometimes they help to wash the soul clean.

[A] person is so much more than the name of a diagnosis on a chart.

Words have always swirled around me like snowflakes-each one delicate and different, each one melting untouched in my hands.